On & Off Broadway

‘The Gin Game’

Reviewed by Elyse Trevers

Posted

The best advertisement for aging gracefully is not to move to Florida, but to re-locate to Broadway. The revival of The Gin Game by D.L. Coburn stars 90-year-old Cicely Tyson and 84-year-old James Earl Jones, and both performers are onstage for almost the entire two hours.

Set in a run-down old-age home designed by Ricardo Hernandez, the two meet when the newcomer Fonsia (Tyson) is outside crying. Weller (Jones) begins to speak to her and realizes that he’s found a person with whom to play cards. The majority of the stage business consists of the two of them playing gin. In addition to memorizing hundreds of lines, the two elderly actors have committed as many as 200 card moves to memory.

Since she doesn’t know how to play gin, he tutors her. At first she has ‘beginner’s luck,” winning the first few hands. Although cursing as he loses, Weller takes it in stride at the beginning. As Fonsia continues to win, he loses his composure. Fonsia begins to feel threatened by his loss of control.

Through the course of the games, they reveal something of their history. Both are divorced and have children. Yet neither has had any visitors. She has diabetes and he’s suffering from an “advanced stage of old age.”

While Fonsia seems more resigned to her situation and tolerant of the other residents in the home, Weller is angry, often mocking them. He’s especially angry at the indifference of the caretakers but notes how little they are paid. Much of what he says — low pay for the employees, missing objects, the indignity of having to give up all one’s money to stay at a better facility — seems to resonate with the older audience at The Golden Theatre. The man behind me noted to his companion, “That will be us someday.”

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